Obukhov, who coordinates electoral campaigning for communists in Russia, called the election “an example of managed democracy."

He said, “When a third of the voters is pressured to cast ballots early, when opposition candidates don’t have equal access to the media, there can be no talk about a free and democratic election.”

According to the Sochi election commission, some 10% of the people cast votes early with a total turnout of 38.6%.

Boris Nemtsov

Liberal opposition nominee Boris Nemtsov, who ended second in the poll with 13.5% of the vote, had been complaining of mass violations ever since the start of the campaign.

“This is not an election, this is fraud. Because of manipulation, because of censorship,” he said prior to the voting date.

Shortly after the balloting was over, Nemtsov’s team published their variant of exit polls, where Pakhomov received 46% of the votes, while his main rival had 35%. They said the numbers didn’t take into account early voting, and reflected true public opinion. Team head Ilya Yashin said they would press for a second round of voting.

But at least one warning by the opposition leader proved a great exaggeration. He said the authorities were “planning massive fraud” by granting the vote to holders of Russian passports in Abkhazia, who were registered in Sochi.

On Sunday, just four people came to the ballot station opened there.

According to the election commission, only minor violations were registered during the election. None of them affected the results.